African filmmakers are exploring Virtual Reality to tell compelling stories

In recent times, Virtual Reality has fast gained ground across the world as the future of consumer media. Because it is so immersive and goes beyond just video or sound, it has become one of the most innovating and exciting technologies of the past decade.

Here in Africa, it hasn’t found much acceptance, due to many, many factors, but some African filmmakers are looking to change that. Recently, at a showcase at the German cultural center in Nairobi, four African directors representing three countries showed their virtual reality productions.

The four directors are Ng’endo Mukii (Kenya), Selly Raby Kane (Senegal), Jonathan Dotse (Ghana), and Jim Chuchu (Kenya), respectively.

Traditionally, in Africa, music and movies face the challenge or rampant piracy and artist’s work are regularly used without permission or payment.

Virtual Reality filmmakers don’t have to face that hurdle because VR content can only be experienced with VR-specific hardware — at the moment, at least. They can market their creations directly to those who already own these equipment, thus pushing the boundaries of filmmaking in Africa and increasing the industry’s chances of breaking into the mainstream international market.

According to a Quartz Africa report, African filmmakers are now saying that VR could provide them an opportunity to complement and push the traditional standard of African storytelling and do away with unfair stereotypes about the continent.

“For the first time, technology has caught up with African storytelling,” Jepchumba, a Kenyan digital artist, said during the screening of the films in Nairobi, according to Quartz Africa. “The onus is on us now.”

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From the consumer angle, VR gear is relatively easy to acquire. There are introductory level VR headsets like Google’s DIY Cardboard setup and Samsung’s GearVR are examples of easy to get consumer-facing VR headsets.

For filmmakers, the story is different. Access to equipment, and then navigating, setting up and using the new technology are just some of the challenges faced by VR filmmakers in Africa.

Also, unlike fixed frame movies which allow directors to control the set, the all-seeing angles of VR gear make it impossible for directors to have control over their sets. Actors usually have to be left alone on the set.

Speaking to Quartz Africa, Chuchu, one of the four African directors who showed their virtual reality productions at the German cultural center in Nairobi, says directing a VR film felt like being “a theater director, rehearsing the scenes until the actors felt comfortable, and then leaving them to their own devices.”

That aside, there are other challenges like low funding opportunities, lack of screening technology, poor distribution infrastructure, and viewer disposition to Hollywood movies, all standing in the way of VR growth serving as a transformative tool for African storytelling.

Maybe it is only a matter of time (VR in itself, isn’t mainstream technology, yet) before VR becomes a thing. Or maybe it is just the filmmaking and entertainment aspects. But the use cases already being tested in the gaming industry, education and as a tool for selling property hold promising signs.

Time will tell.